Ohio Tax Residency (212 contact periods)

Key parameters
Threshold	212 contact periods
Period / Window	Tax year (1 Jan – 31 Dec)
Counting	Nights (contact periods)
Alternative	Domicile
Additional requirements	Abode outside Ohio, affidavit

This applies to anyone splitting time between Ohio and a home in another state. Ohio decides residency by domicile, and gives you a way to establish that your domicile is elsewhere:

• Domicile — Ohio is your permanent home under the ordinary common-law test, and residency follows from it.
• The bright-line presumption — staying at or under a fixed number of contact periods and meeting several supporting conditions presumes you are not domiciled in Ohio.

A contact period is not a day but something closer to a night, so the count runs well below the number of days you spend in the state.

The count is only the first of several conditions. You must also hold at least one residence outside Ohio and claim no federal depreciation on it, hold no valid Ohio driver's license or state ID, receive no Ohio property tax reduction of the specified kinds, and pay no in-state tuition at an Ohio college — then file a sworn statement after the tax year ends.

The presumption runs both ways from the same number. At 212 or fewer contact periods with every condition met you are presumed not to be an Ohio resident. At 213 or more you are presumed to be one, and rebutting that takes clear and convincing evidence.

The figure was 182 contact periods until March 2015, so older guidance still in circulation understates the allowance by a month.

• Contact periods and days are not interchangeable. Two weeks of separate single-day visits can produce a count of zero, while a run of overnight stays produces one for almost every day.
• A false statement destroys the protection. The tax authority can look behind the filing and show a claim of non-Ohio domicile was untrue, which leaves the ordinary domicile test applying in full.
• An Ohio driver's license alone can defeat it. Holding a valid Ohio license or state ID puts the presumption out of reach whatever your contact-period count.
• Old guidance still says 182. The allowance rose to 212 in March 2015, so any source giving the lower figure is more than a decade out of date.
• Ohio's own guidance is not all current. Some department pages still describe the older 182-period rule and an earlier filing deadline, so check the figure against the statute rather than a summary.
• Ohio cities levy their own income taxes. Municipal residency is decided separately from state residency and is not governed by this count.

A resident is taxed on income from all sources while a nonresident pays only on Ohio-source income, so an error usually surfaces as out-of-state income never reported after a move the state does not accept. The Department charges interest from the original due date and adds penalties for filing late and for underpaying, and above the threshold the presumption of residency stands until rebutted by clear and convincing evidence. Professional tax advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

Day trips that never count

You live across the border and drive into Ohio for work about 150 times a year, returning home each night. Because no visit spans portions of 2 consecutive days while away overnight, you accumulate no contact periods at all.

Overnight stays that add up quickly

You keep a home in Florida and stay in Ohio in blocks of several nights at a time, totalling around 230 contact periods. That passes 212, so you are presumed to be an Ohio resident and must rebut it with clear and convincing evidence.

A good count undone by a driver's license

You hold a home in Kentucky and record 190 contact periods, but keep a valid Ohio driver's license. The count is comfortable, yet a supporting condition fails and the bright-line presumption is unavailable to you.

• Ohio Revised Code — Section 5747.24, presumption of residency
• Ohio Department of Taxation — Individual income tax